Advise prior to visiting surgeon's office

[MyDryEyes]

Hello!!

I am a 6-month post-op PRK patient who is now suffering from dry eyes. I went in for a follow up yesterday with my optemetric physician and he has referred me back to my surgeon's office for a follow-up. My physician is saying that he has not seen a case like mine with such severe dryness and discomfort in the 1000 some post-op patients he has treated.

The surgeon's office called me today to schedule a follow-up appointment. They said that they were going to bill my medical insurance, but I pointed out that my "warranty" stated that I had a 6 month follow-up with them that was covered under the initial cost of my surgery. There "consultant" said that it was up to the surgeon to diagnose if the dry eye is related to my surgery or not. I am very concerned that they are going to try to pin this on some thing else. I am trying not to point fingers or place blame, I just want good care. I am certain that the dryness is a result of my laser surgery. I did not have this issue before, never depended on eye drops and I am relatively young and healthy (32 years old). The follow up with the surgeon's office and their corneal specialist is scheduled for Tuesday.

Does anybody have advise for me going into this appointment? How do I move forward to get the best care? This is scary!!

[kurt]

I think you did the right thing in asking up front whether it would be covered. However, if you have Dry Eye Syndrome, I don't think it is going to matter to the insurance company that it was the result of elective eye surgery. Did you elect to get dry eye. Of course not. Dry Eye Syndrome from LASIK would be "Keratoconjunctivitis sicca, not specified as Sjögren's" or something similar to that, and it, like every medical disease/condition in the universe, has a numerical medical code. And this code is what ultimately finds its way to the insurance company.

[Rebecca Petris]

The last thing you need when you are struggling for diagnosis and treatment is a battle over whodunnit. I would be avoiding that kind of conversation like the plague.